Free Tuition Opinion
Student debts are a burden worth
addressing. The debate over free tuition has been gaining momentum in North
America and politicians, such as Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and
Marco Rubio, all
agree that record setting tuition fees should be a priority. Canadians
feel much the same way, and in 2018, the NDP's vowed to eliminate
them altogether.
Nothing is free however, and many see
free tuition as a simply a displacement of responsibility. Obama’s
proposal was approximately $6
billion a
year. 75% of that is covered federally while the remaining $1.5 billion is to
be paid by the State. Where this money will come from is widely speculated upon
and just one reason why free tuition is a bad idea.
Another important reason is that free
tuition unevenly favours the wealthy. Tristan
Hopper writes in the National Post, “It’s similar to a government program
that would subsidize Whole Foods receipts.” Hopper says it is a “regressive
measure; a policy that becomes more lucrative the more income you make.” Under
Sander’s plan, Booking’s Institute found, “families from the top half of
the income distribution would receive 24 percent more in dollar value from
eliminating tuition than students from the lower half of the income
distribution.”
Those in favour of free tuition often
argue that it will increase graduate rates, however it appears the opposite is
true. In one California study notes that half of the 2.1 million
community college students were already getting free tuition yet only 6%
completed a program and less than 10% obtained a degree. Only 55% percent of
students graduate after 6 years.[AB4] Offering
free tuition to achieve such low results just isn’t economically feasible.
British Colombian’s are
questioning the economic impacts of free tuition as well as proposals to offer
subsidized student health care. The proposal would cost B.C. taxpayers over $100
million annually. This paired with the possibility of free
tuition spells big challenges ahead for the province. Civitas Institute offers one
alternative,
private schools can do what they want. “If private institutions, many of which
have billion-dollar endowments, chose to provide a tuition-free education, it’s
their prerogative to spend dollars as they see fit.”
References:
https://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/b-c-poised-for-additional-100-million-plus-subsidy-for-international-student-health-care-1.23473599
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